Sean Collins may be the most influential surfer of our time, even more so than Kelly Slater. Think about it: has Kelly ever affected when and if you go surfing? Has he ever faxed or called you to say that waves were coming? Heck, you've probably never seen the guy surf in person. You haven't likely shared the lineup with Collins, either, but his impact on the common surfer is undeniable.

Born in Southern California, Sean Collins' fondness for the ocean was cultivated aboard a 50-foot sailboat owned by his father, Whitney, a general contractor and navy lieutenant during World War II. Venturing around Long Beach as well as entering races to Mexico and Hawaii, Collins first became interested in meteorology as it related to sailing and surfing. A Seal Beach surfer since age eight, he competed in local WSA events with success. He spent two years at the Hawaii Preparatory Academy on the big island, frequently ditching class to surf and explore new spots on the outer islands. More explorer than competitor, he nonetheless narrowly missed the finals of the inaugural Katin Challenge in 1977 surfing for the Harbour Surf Team, advancing past many world renowned pros in big, closed-out surf at Huntington Cliffs, which was eventually won by Shaun Tomson.

Around the time of his graduation from Long Beach's Wilson High, Collins' sailing became interrelated with his surfing. "My favorite part of the races was bringing the boat back," he remembers. "We could take our time and search out surf spots. I explored Baja and found so many great surf spots, and soloed Scorpion Bay around 1969. I've been in storms 100 miles out at sea, then surfed the same swells the next day. I was always looking at charts to plan my surfing and sailing, and developed a keen sense about the ocean, which is at the core of what I live for today."

Collins attended Long Beach Community College for two years of studies, but received no formal training beyond a couple courses in meteorology. As a professional photographer in the 70's and 80's he worked for Yary Sports Photography, the Berzon Talent Agency, and was a contributing photographer to Surfing Magazine. Collins also worked as a waiter and bartender at the Hindquarter restaurant in Long Beach to ensure a flexible schedule for surfing and chasing waves, and set about studying weather charts to hopefully predict future swells. The north swells were easy, but calling the southern hemis was another story. He received late-night weather faxes from New Zealand via a crude shortwave radio, comparing the week-old charts to the surf behind his Seal Beach home. Collins raided the National Weather Service library in Los Angeles, studied his charts and eventually devised his own formulas for making sense of it all. By the early '80s, he was adept at forecasting swells and shared the information with his friends. "People started calling," he reflects, "'You don't know me,' they'd say. 'I'm a friend of a friend, but what do you think Mexico's gonna be like next week?'"

Collins and wife Daren had their first son, Tyler, in 1983, prompting Collins to seek more secure employment. In 1984, when some Orange County businessmen requested his services as a founder to develop proprietary surf reporting and forecasting services for a fledgling phone venture called Surfline, he jumped at the chance. After two years dedicated to the operation without promising long term incentives or prospects, he left to begin a rival company called Wavetrak. The new project was so successful that he bought out Surfline in 1990. Collins soon expanded his products and services to other mediums and offered a subscription based WaveFax, and in 1995 he launched Surfline.com, a web site featuring free surf reports from around the country. Collins also developed the very first live "Surfcam" in February 1996, the precedent for famous surf camera network available on Surfline.com today. Throughout the late 90's, the free reports and live surf cameras on Surfline.com severely cut into the company's primary phone and fax revenue, but he ignored the short-term losses in view of the bigger picture.

The foresight paid off in 1999 when Surfline became sought after by every new Internet surf site. At the time Surfline was attracting 500,000 unique users each month, despite the detractors who felt Collins was ruining the sport's inherent sense of adventure while drawing increased crowds to the lineup. Swell.com eventually acquired Surfline, leaving Collins at the controls of the Surfline business to help drive traffic to the new ecommerce site. After the Dotcom crash in 2001, Surfline separated from Swell to become an independent company focusing on the core business of surf reporting, forecasting, and surfing editorial. Surfline.com has since grown to become one of the largest sports sites in the world with nearly 1.5 million unique people visiting the site each month.

Collins now serves as President, Chief Surf Forecaster, and Founder for Surfline. Over the past 30 years, he has helped to develop a sophisticated, proprietary system of wave forecasting - much of which is currently used in LOLA, Surfline's Global Swell Model. Through Surfline, Collins provides weather and forecasting services to every lifeguard agency in California, the Coast Guard, US Navy Seals, National Weather Service, numerous television and movie production companies, multiple domestic and international governmental agencies and nearly every surf company in the world.

Collins also directs an exclusive crew of Big Wave riders to chase the largest waves on Earth at any moment - including Mike Parsons, Brad Gerlach,Shane Dorian, Laird Hamiltion, Greg and Rusty Long, Jamie Sterling, and many more. Still a resident of Seal Beach, he frequents the lineup at Surfside Colony and many secret breaks in Mexico with sons Tyler and A.J., both of whom are avid watermen with a keen interest in surf exploration and weather. Collins has been surfing and wave exploring by land, air, and sea for more than 40 years and is still holding vast knowledge of many secret spots south of the border. The Surfline office staff also knows a good south swell is confirmed and on the way when Collins disappears out of the office on one of his many solo surf trips to Baja.

Sean Collins was named one of the "25 Most Influential Surfers of the Century" by Surfer Magazine in the summer of 1999, the "8th Most Powerful Surfer in the Surf Industry" by Surfer Magazine in the summer of 2002, and in the TOP 100 People who wield the most Power and Influence in Southern California by the Los Angeles Times WEST Magazine in the summer of 2006. Finally in July 2008, Collins was inducted in the Surfer's Hall of Fame, and his hand and foot prints are immortalized in stone next to the DUKE statue in front of Huntington Surf & Sport, on the corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Main Street in Huntington Beach, California.

When asked recently if there was a secret to success that he would want to convey to the kids coming up surfing these days, Collins responded, "Really simple things when you think about it. Mostly just follow your passion, try to be a really good person and a good judge of character, and then just surround yourself with a great team and really good people. Add lots of luck and all kinds of great things can happen!"

It’s not really a Prefab, it’s more built recycling materials like shipping containers and wooden pallets. The aim of Infiniski is to propose cheap and quickly built houses. On their website, they propose many different shapes and configurations.

The one presented here was built in Chile for 79000 euros. It’s made with two 40′ shipping containers and two 20′ .

Stereo’s Vinyl Series Cruisers were inspired by three things: music, skateboarding and fun.

Stereo’s creative roots trace back one of its original inspirations: American Jazz & Blues music and the rich style, design and culture that went with it.

Stereo owners Jason Lee and Chris Pastras started out riding what are affectionately called “Banana Boards” as early as 1979 and now, after professional skateboarding careers spanning two decades, they still enjoy riding their collectible versions, which inspired the “Vinyl Series” boards today.

Whether its cruising to a skate spot, bombing a hill, getting around town, skating to a bar or riding your way around campus in-between classes, Stereo’s Vinyl Series Skateboard come complete and ready to roll. Stash it in your backpack, trunk or locker when you’re not skating it.

Swatch has teamed up with Kidrobot, an art-driven toy and lifestyle
brand, to create Kidrobot for Swatch, a collection of eight Gents, each
accompanied by a complimentary Dunny. Dunny is Kidrobot’s iconic and
highly collectible bunny-like vinyl toy, a customizable canvas for
artists from widely varying backgrounds. Gary Baseman, Jeremyville,
Frank Kozik, Joe Ledbetter, MAD, Tara McPherson, SSUR, and Tilt are the
eight extraordinary artists who have contributed to the new collection,
each with a characteristic design for a Gent and its accompanying 3-inch
(7.6 cm) Dunny.

The eight models Kidrobot for Swatch will be available in
Swatch stores and points of sale from August 18 in China, and September
1st worldwide, either separately, in which case each model
comes with its complementary Dunny, or as part of a special Kidrobot
limited and numbered edition of 300 sets.
Each Kidrobot Special Set
(GZS48) is comprised of the 8 Kidrobot watches in the collection:
GB249S, GB250S, GP133S, GP132S, GB251S, GE232S, GJ130S and GB252. Each
watch in the set carries its limited edition number (001/300) and is
presented in Special Packaging together with its corresponding Dunny.
Eight of the Dunnys are 3 inches (7.6 cm) high, while Frank Kozik’s
mustachio’d white Dunny comes in a special 20-inch high (50.8 cm)
version.

Primary Flight Mural Project

Primary Flight put together great art indoors and out. I have been involved with their mural program during Miami Art Basel for the last several years, and it is always a pleasure to work with them. Check out this video of a huge and amazing mural project they put together.

Available on http://www.goodiesonline.ch/category-78/category-81/75-years-dc-comics-the-art-of-modern-mythmaking.html

TASCHEN is pleased to announce that 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking received the 2011 Eisner Comic Industry Award for Best Comics-Related Book of the Year.

Often called the "Oscars" or the "National Book Awards" of the comics industry, the 23rd Annual Eisner Awards were held last Friday night July 22 at this year’s Comic-Con International in San Diego, California, the largest comic book and popular arts event in the Western Hemisphere.

Special congratulations go to writer Paul Levitz, former president and publisher of DC Comics, who accepted his first Eisner award on behalf of the book, as well as TASCHEN Art Director Josh Baker, DC Comics editor Steve Korte, TASCHEN editor Nina Wiener, and all the members of the DC Comics and TASCHEN staff who worked on the book.

Pick up your copy now, while it’s still available in the XL edition!

"The biggest (and best) gift you can buy a comic book fan this holiday season...the new release from TASCHEN that began as a historical project but now may qualify as a history-making one with its colossal ambitions, insight and collected rarities." Geoff Boucher, Los Angeles Times

South African Chris Fallows, who runs diving and shark-spotting trips off Cape Town, went paddle boarding off the coasts of South Africa and Mexico, moving within sight of the predators in an attempt to dispel the theory that they post a threat to humans.
Can he keep his balance?You want the real history ? Click on the link below

Take the Plastics Pledge

There is a section of the Pacific Ocean twice the size of the continental United States called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Within it, 100 million tons of plastic swirl in a vortex of currents. There is so much plastic in the water that it outnumbers zooplankton by six to one!
This plastic ends up in the stomachs of marine birds and animals. In fact, one million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals die globally each year due to ingestion of or entanglement in plastics.
Plastic is forever, with virtually every piece of petroleum based plastic ever made still in existence. That's why it's so critical to our oceans and beaches that we dramatically reduce our use of plastics, especially single-use plastics, starting today.
You can make a difference for our world's oceans, waves and beaches -- pledge to rise above plastics today.

Dont forget :
Using reusable bottles for my water and other drinks. By using just one reusable bottle, I will keep 167 single-use plastic bottles from entering the environment.

- Using cloth bags for groceries and other purchases. For each reusable bag I use, I will save approximately 400 plastics from being used.

- Recycling the plastic bags and bottles I already have. For every thirteen plastic bags I don't use, I will save enough petroleum to drive a car one mile.

Check out the video for a fresh track the Cool Kids put together for Nike and Foot Locker. It features Amar'e Stoudemire, DeSean Jackson and Chris Bosh, as well as some of the latest Nike Air Max shoes available at Foot Locker.

Success SUP download now in English!! IOSUP want to share with the SUP community a common tool for our security in all conditions that we have during the practice of our sport. The guide is part of a specific module of our IOSUP rescue course.